Wessler: BU can have its cake and gargoyle, too

Friday

Oct 19, 2012 at 12:01 AMOct 19, 2012 at 6:03 PM

Lions and eagles and gargoyles? Oh, my.

Those are the potential sports mascots recently presented to Bradley University’s various constituencies. A process that included input from summer focus groups advanced this fall to a mass-opinion stage, and the deadline for returning the two-part, online surveys passed Thursday.

Kirk Wessler

Lions and eagles and gargoyles? Oh, my.

Those are the potential sports mascots recently presented to Bradley University’s various constituencies. A process that included input from summer focus groups advanced this fall to a mass-opinion stage, and the deadline for returning the two-part, online surveys passed Thursday.

The other issue on the survey dealt with the "Braves" nickname, which suddenly has become a controversy again, albeit an unnecessary one. The survey basically asked for a preference between “Braves,” “Brave” or neither.

There was an unexpected wrinkle to the survey, though. It was set up by a video, in which narrator Dave Snell, longtime radio voice of BU men’s basketball, explains that without a nickname change, Bradley cannot have a mascot.

Say, what?

I must have missed something. Did a twister rip through here, pick us up and drop us in a forest between Kansas and Oz?

In the face of activist protests and growing pressure from the NCAA, Bradley dumped its Native American warrior mascot and logos nearly 20 years ago. The university then fought for more than a decade to hang on to “Braves” as the nickname, while the NCAA sought to purge the intercollegiate ranks of Native American nicknames and images.

Most other institutions either lost their NCAA battles or quit fighting them, but Bradley held its ground. In April 2006, the NCAA allowed Bradley to keep the “Braves” nickname without restrictions, then put the institution on a five-year watch list to make sure nobody on the Hilltop tried to sneak a tomahawk chop into a game cheer. That five-year period is over.

Bradley “Braves” won. Time to go find a mascot without a tie to Native American imagery.

Then I attended one of the focus groups and learned that the university wanted to consider a nickname change. What the heck for? After fighting the NCAA for almost two decades and winning, the administration was ready to cave in to … what? Fear of future possibilities in the form of NCAA bogeymen?

Doesn’t sound very brave to me.

Anyway, the whole process seemed to be pushing the notion of a pre-determined change. People at BU with whom I’ve spoken insist that’s not the case. But I have been involved in enough focus groups and marketing studies in my life to be suspicious. I think somebody – or somebodies – on the Hilltop decided the Bradley “Brave” and a gargoyle mascot would be wonderful. I drew that conclusion because those two ideas dominated the focus-group presentation.

So cuss me if you think I’m crazy.

I don’t have a problem with changing the nickname to the singular “Brave.” My advocacy of the “Brave” dates to the beginning of the controversy. I do have a problem changing the name after winning the fight.

And I also think the gargoyle is the perfect mascot for Bradley. Gargoyles have perched atop Bradley Hall since the school was founded. The gargoyle would be unique among mascots. Lots of teams are represented by eagles and lions and such. But the gargoyle would make BU stand out in the crowd.

What I don’t get is why Bradley, in this process, tried to create the impression that it cannot have a mascot as long as “Braves” remains the nickname. That simply is not true.

I'm not interested in blaming anyone, least of all Snell. In the video, he was simply articulating a script. I just want truth up front.

I talked to athletics director Michael Cross, and he acknowledged: “The NCAA never said we can’t have any mascot. But we can’t have any image associated with Native Americans, because those are all deemed hostile and abusive.”

Those allegedly hostile and abusive images are legion. According to the NCAA, they even include eagle feathers, which the organization deemed unacceptable when the College of William & Mary – once known as the Indians and now as the Tribe – attempted to incorporate one into its logo.

But the gargoyle’s origins are not rooted in Native American culture.

There’s no valid reason Bradley cannot remain the “Braves” and have a gargoyle as a mascot. It’s disappointing that anyone would suggest the two are mutually exclusive, because they are not – unless this outcome has been pre-determined.

KIRK WESSLER is Journal Star executive sports editor/columnist. He can be reached at kwessler@pjstar.com, or 686-3216. Read his Captain’s Blog at blogs.pjstar.com/wessler/. Follow him on Twitter @KirkWessler.